Dix and Mulcair out of step on federal Clarity Act

Federal NDP bill proposes new rules that appear to make Quebec independence easier

Federal NDP leader Thomas Mulcair, left, said his party’s bill spelling out new rules for the separation of a province from Canada won’t harm the election prospects of provincial NDP opposition leader Adrian Dix, right.

Photograph by: Ward Perrin
, Vancouver Sun

OTTAWA – Federal New Democratic Party leader Thomas Mulcair said Wednesday he’s confident his party’s controversial bill spelling out proposed new rules regarding the separation of a province from Canada won’t hurt B.C. provincial leader Adrian Dix heading into the May election.

Mulcair personally drafted a private member’s bill tabled here Monday by one of his MPs that would effectively make it easier for a province to separate from Canada.

It would replace the Clarity Act, a bill passed by Jean Chretien’s Liberal government in 2000 in reaction to the federalists’ near-loss in the 1995 Quebec referendum.

The Clarity Act, similar in tone to the tough approach toward Quebec advocated at the time by the old Western Canada-based Reform party, has always been popular outside Quebec — and has been deeply resented by Quebec nationalists.

It sets out strict conditions that would require a province to get a mandate from the public in a referendum on a clear question with a clear majority vote.

The legislation doesn’t say what threshold is to trigger sovereignty negotiations, but the assumption has always been that Quebec separatists would need to win by at least 55 per cent to meet the bill’s test.

Dix, in an interview earlier this month before his meeting here with Mulcair and other provincial NDP leaders, said he supports the Clarity Act.

The federal NDP’s bill tabled Monday goes against the thrust of that bill by stating that a simple majority of 50 per cent plus a single vote — on a clear question — is enough to break up Canada.

“I’m not concerned about anybody in the NDP,” he told The Vancouver Sun when asked about whether he and Dix were offside on a sensitive national unity matter.

He noted that party members voted overwhelmingly in favour of the current policy when the matter was debated and voted on in 2005-06.

Mulcair appeared not to be aware of Dix’s position, stated in an interview earlier this month, that he supports the Clarity Act. Dix couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday.

“I think Adrian Dix is one of the strongest political leaders I’ve ever had the privilege to know in my career, and what we’ve put on the table is a reflection of the adopted policy of the NDP, adopted by 95 per cent of our members,” Mulcair said in an interview in his Parliament Hill office.

“And you’re telling me something about a conversation you’ve had with Adrian. All I can tell you is this: I’ve spoken with all of my provincial colleagues and they were all very much aware of what we’re putting on the table.”

He noted that the British government has already indicated it would accept a simple majority in a Scottish independence referendum scheduled for 2014.

“If it’s good enough for the mother of all British parliaments, in Westminster, in the case of Scottish secession, why wouldn’t we do the same as we did in ’80 and ’95, which is to recognize that the majority wins?”

The Clarity Act was based on a 1998 Supreme Court of Canada ruling. Mulcair said he’s confident his party’s bill is consistent with that court ruling, since the bill stresses the need for a clear question — something the judges made clear was necessary.

Mulcair said he’d prefer to focus on the economy, but he felt forced to respond to the Bloc Quebecois private member’s bill now before the Commons that would repeal the Clarity Act.

His position was slammed on Tuesday by many, but not all, media commentators in English-speaking Canada.

Mulcair is in a tough spot, polls suggest, because his huge breakthrough in Quebec in 2011 was based on victories mostly in ridings held by the separatist Bloc Quebecois.

The Bloc, by tabling its bill to repeal the Clarity Act, is attempting to force Mulcair to jeopardize the careers of either his Quebec MPs in nationalist ridings or his caucus members outside Quebec, including a dozen from B.C.

An Ipsos Reid poll released after the separatist Parti Quebecois election win last September showed that 67 per cent of Canadians polled thought a majority of no lower than two-thirds (66 per cent) was necessary to break up the country. In Quebec the figure was 55 per cent.

Interestingly, a similar minority in both segments of the poll supported the bare threshold of 50 per cent plus one vote — 30 per cent in Quebec, 24 per cent in the rest of Canada.

The online poll of 1,007 Canadians, done for Postmedia News and Global Television, was conducted Aug. 30-Sept. 4. Ipsos Reid said the survey was assumed to be accurate to within 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

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